


Other Men's Sons

by A_Farnese



Series: Penumbra- Missing Scenes [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Caring Gaius, Concerned Arthur, Family, Hurt Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 20:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3583344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Farnese/pseuds/A_Farnese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaius knew they weren't his, that they were other men's sons, but Arthur and Merlin were his boys all the same.</p>
<p>Set during 'Nightfall in Winter'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Other Men's Sons

 

It took effort to keep his hands from shaking. Only long years of experience kept him steady, and the fact that it was his own boy under his care. Gaius didn't want to cause him anymore pain. _'Merlin is not your son,'_ he reminded himself. But family wasn't always determined by blood. Maybe he hadn't raised Merlin from infancy, but he'd guided the boy through the intricacies of life in Uther's court, housed him, fed him, and taught him a trade. Merlin wasn't Gaius's trueborn son, but he was  _his_ boy. His broken boy.

His heart had quailed when Gwaine, white-faced and hollow-eyed, had come home before the others. _'I have bad news,'_ he'd said, _'It's about Merlin.'_ Gaius had expected the worst, but when Gwaine finally relayed the tidings, the old healer wondered if death would have been better. Taken hostage, tortured, and burned alive. Merlin only lived because of an accident of Fate and a trio of Druids.

They had brought him home broken, in a sleep so deep nothing could rouse him. It was for the best. Simply bringing him to the physician's chambers and putting him to bed would have been unbearable, had Merlin been aware of it. It was better this way, better that he sleep through the agony. The humiliation. Wounds always needed cleaning and tending, and Merlin's injuries ran the length of his body. He was always such a private young man, never wanting anyone to see the scars he carried or know the pain he had endured. Yes, it was better that his boy was asleep for this.

Gaius had thought to summon Blaise for this task, or Stilicho. He shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when Arthur volunteered, shooing the others away and locking the door behind them. _'Some blame for this rests at my feet,'_ Arthur had said, _'He's my servant. My friend. I won't shirk my responsibilities to him just because it's uncomfortable. I owe him at least that much'._

And so it was Arthur who cradled Merlin as Gaius peeled the old bandages off Merlin's back. It was Arthur who shushed the younger man as Gaius swabbed the cuts and burns clean. There were unshed tears in the king's eyes when the last bandage came away. The physician had to admit his own despair, if only to himself. His boys were suffering, and there was nothing he could to do alleviate it.

_'My boys?'_ Gaius wondered. _'Yes. Mine.'_

They might have been other men's sons, but they were his boys all the same. He had loved them from the first- the first time he had looked into newborn Arthur's eyes, and from the first letter Hunith sent to announce Merlin's birth a few years later, and never mind the distance between them. Where their fathers had been absent or neglectful, Gaius was always there to soothe their hurts and their hearts, guiding them through the rough waters between childhood and maturity.

There were days Gaius wanted to howl curses at the world for not loving his boys enough. Hadn't they paid their dues and given everything they could in pursuit of a better world? Perhaps he was growing naive in his old age, thinking that Fate responded to sacrifices the way the gods had of old. He sighed and dipped the cloth back into the pink-tinged water, squeezing it out over Merlin's back, letting it dribble down the fevered skin before swabbing the slashes there. Merlin moaned faintly.

"Shhh. You're all right. We're home now. It's just Gaius," Arthur whispered into his servant's ear. "You're safe." The king closed his eyes, his thumb tracing slow circles over Merlin's hair.

A faint smile warmed Gaius's face. If he had declared these two to be his sons, then they had made brothers of each other. Like night and day, they were, each filling in the gaps the other was missing. Between them, love and forgiveness seemed unconditional.

"Gaius?" Arthur sounded terribly young.

"Yes, sire?"

"Do you think he'll be all right? Blaise has tended him ever since…" Arthur couldn't bring himself to say the rest. "But he hasn't woken up at all and he hardly reacts to anything. What if he never wakes up?"

"I won't lie to you, Arthur," Gaius replied, "Merlin's injuries are grievous, and it will take a long time for them to heal. But he is stronger than people think he is. Barring a worsening of his fever or some other complication, I don't see any reason why he couldn't make a full recovery."

Arthur nodded and fell silent, letting Gaius get on with his work. The old physician smiled again, faintly. If this night was any indication, it would take some act of the gods to keep Merlin from recovering. That wouldn't happen if Arthur had any say.

_'No, he wouldn't let anyone hurt his little brother. Now now, not ever.'_ He hadn't meant to build a family when he was given charge of other men's sons, but build it he had, as strange and cobbled-together as it was. Blood wasn't the only bond that tied a family together.


End file.
